Power leveling in King's Game
Overview This is sarysa's power leveling guide for reasonably high level players. It was written during patch 7.45. This guide is suitable for difficulties up to Insane. Exp is pretty good in all modes, so pick the one that works for you. King's Game offers a very simple way to grind. Requirements * Squire or Countess * Series EV (optional but highly recommended) * Hardcore Mode to maximize experience Level Recommendations The level recommendations displayed in the level select screen are misleading. Stats are far more important than levels, and plenty of Mythical can be found in player shops at reasonable prices that are better than most Ultimate items. A 700-point tower myth (health + damage + rate + radius) in each slot on your tower builders will make you ready for Insane. Thanks to diminishing returns, your tower builders will end up over half as powerful as decked out Ultimate users. You will need to shop around, but the author has found many of these myths for under 10 million mana in some shops! Folks who farm NMHC (Nightmare Hardcore) eternia shards maps and the newer campaign maps are swimming in high quality myths and may sell them for reasonable prices, so just look for shops run by users who have recently been to NMHC Aquanos, Sky City, King's Game, and Tavern Defense. In the end, what difficulty level you use will be the highest level that you can do this map with only tower defenses, taking no core damage. Wired Xbox 360 Controllers on your PC for Additional Alts Additionally, the author used three wired Xbox controllers (two controllers and one Mad Catz microphone) to maximize EXP. You don't need to do this, but if you're powerful enough to handle the additional monsters there is no reason not to. Hit START on the controller to bring them in at any time. If you only have wireless controllers, you'd need a special accessory to use them on your PC. If you have wired Xbox controllers, you can get free drivers from Microsoft's website here. (click the 1) http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/xbox-360-controller-for-windows#support Guide Setup Start with your Squire or Countess. Have them set up four harpoon turrets facing the ramps. Turn the turrets on the edge about 45 degrees inward so they can shoot down wyverns. Make sure they're far enough away from the crystal so the crystal doesn't take damage. Make sure that they're pointing at the eternia crystals, for added protection. Do this for both eternia crystals. Optionally, you can switch to your EV to add buff beams. You'll be able to buff 15 turrets due to DU limits. (in my screenshots, you'll see I only laid 15, but I'm high powered enough to do so) You should make the top level weaker than the bottom level, since the top sees less action and has a longer line of sight. (since monsters come from an exposed ramp leading upwards) Your non-tower layers should have an aggressive ranged pet, but not one with knockback. The birds in my screenshots work well. This will grant these characters a huge bonus for only using weapons during the round. Hiding Spots There are different hiding spots for different characters. The three hiding spots shown are safe from Dark Elf Warriors. * Top left: The easiest hiding spot is a glowing platform on the lower level with the crystal, but you'll end up with a random effect each round. Instead, the tower layer should hide this turned over block on the upper level. It's a tricky jump, but it's 100% safe. * Top right: Other characters that can do physical damage should hide out where the forge is. There's about a 30% chance that you'll be hit each round (without reflection beams), from my experience. The more alts you have jamming this spot, this chance increases. At the top right of this image you can make out my summoner on top of the moving bishop. (more on that shortly) * Bottom left: If you have a summoner, fly onto the moving bishop on the upper level with the crystal. Stay near the top of the bishop, as the lower part of the bishop is vulnerable to land attacks. This is a perfect hiding spot -- your aggressive pets will get hits in but will not draw aggro, so you can just let this character sit and do nothing! * Bottom right: I couldn't move this character because it used a Rock Band controller with no sticks or triggers. Between Rounds Simply wait in your hiding spots until the round is done. Once your audio quiets down a lot you can pay attention to the screen again as you'll only have to worry about a few ogres that spawn far apart, and this is only a concern with multiple players. This is a good time to run around and level things up. You can't start the round away from the crystal with Xbox controllers, as the key mapping doesn't seem to work. Luckily, you get less time for setup before later rounds. Additional Tips * If you need to do more damage, bring your Squire or Countess back out. The EV's buff beam does not incur a damage bonus penalty if the EV is inactive. ** Additionally, if you bring the Squire or Countess back in on a different controller, you will not incur the damage bonus penalty. * If you have an alt which can't move (which doesn't seem to be uncommon based on the comments, and the fact most people won't have 3 normal wired Xbox controllers) be sure to at least give said alt a pet. Even if you die, you'll still get the 1.3x attacks-only bonus. * If you can spare the DU, reflection beams around the forge will ensure those alts aren't hit. See the screenshot in the Hiding Spots section, I spend 3 DUs on the one behind the hero, 2 DUs on the one in front, and 1 DU on the one to the left. * Although rare, Ogres on the upper level may attack your turrets on the lower level. Keep this in mind when upgrading turrets which are firing upwards. * The lower part of the forge platform makes you vulnerable to Dark Elf Warriors. Stand near the right corner. (if you stand too high, projectiles can pass above any reflection beam you may have) The screenshot in the Hiding Spots section demonstrates a good spot to stand. * Make sure your tower layer isn't using a DPS pet so you can get an end-game bonus for using only towers. * If you get the player damage random effect, you will lose your "no player dmg" bonus on all your characters! For this reason you should avoid glowing tiles altogether. * If your turrets are too powerful, you may go the first round without your center heroes' pets getting any hits in. (thus no bonus for weapons only) * Your character's presence near the crystal may cause ogres to hit the crystal with their ranged attack. I haven't figured out why this happens, but it won't happen if just your turrets are near the crystal. (even when it appears like it should hit) * Two 1DU reflection beams attached to each other are longer than one 2DU reflection beam. The disadvantage is slightly higher cost and longer build time. What You Get At Insane, each character you include will grant you middle quality myths. My worst characters (i.e. if my immobile monk has no aggressive pet and dies repeatedly) get around 8 million exp, and my best (the summoner) gets over 14 million. The run takes about 45 minutes, and only 8 minutes or so are spent active. This rate is slightly better than Aquanos, and a whole lot easier! I can easily focus on something else during this run. Alternate Setups Just some alternatives you can try. The author doesn't recommend them. You may be able to combine aspects of them. Reflection Beams Around Turrets You can try this to enable more AFKing, but here is what the author found: * Monsters could still damage the turrets. * Damage decreased by maybe 40%. * The reason the author doesn't recommend: This setup messes with monster AI somehow -- the crystal got damaged twice. (and not only on the floor with fewer turrets) During maybe 20 or so other powerlevel runs, the author only suffered one hit total to the crystal. Ensnare Aura Ensnare Aura is another option, and it can actually be a good one if you need to slow monsters down. The thing is, you will need get gear that significantly reduces the radius of the ensnare aura. Most of your score comes from completion time, and slowing down monsters on the lower floor will drastically cut your score each round. Other notes: * They tend to form mage nests, since Dark Elf Mages will stop short of the aura—probably stopping short of your turrets' line of sight as well. * There is a specific issue where monsters taking a certain path will go back and forth, up and down the ramp, until they're killed. This is due to a lower level ensnare aura touching the higher level. (note, I have video of this, and will replace the below image with it as soon as I get the time) Credits * Original guide by: sarysa * Inspiration for "Alternate Setups" section: Keffeine * Inspiration for "Level requirement" section: Anonymous * Additional improvements inspired by anonymous commenters Category:Guides